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Monthly Archives: June 2015

This chart published in CBC news shows the rate of violence to which Canadian travelers have been victim in 20 countries. Notice that Mexico is ranked 3rd on the list for violence, while the United States in 19th. When comparing the violence rate in Mexico of 3.077 per 100,000 overnight visitors to the United States, which is .088 per 100,000, it can be readily seen that a Canadian in Mexico is 35 times more likely to fall victim to violence than when in the United States. When comparing only murder rates, a Canadian visiting Mexico is 5.6 times more likely to be murdered than a Canadian visiting the United States.

MEXICO CITY – Beside the free road between San Pedro and Saltillo, at kilometer 200, municipal police belonging to the Unified Police Command, arrested four subjects for “tapping” a milk tanker, and refilling it with water from a cistern used for agricultural use, which could be contaminated. They also seized 540 liters of milk in 9 plastic bottles.

The driver of the tanker is originally from Guanajuato, and the other three from an ejido in the area, located in the Lake Region of Coahuilla.

They also seized 10,360 pesos (US$675) in cash, which was paid to the tanker truck driver for the milk, a 20 foot hose, an engine driven pump, four cell phones and three pick-up trucks, reported the State Security Commission this Wednesday.

The milk with water was to be delivered to a milk processing business, which makes cheeses, yogurts and prepared food. According to those arrested “about three months ago” the started to “buy” the milk from the tanker driver, although they were not precise on how often nor the quantity stolen.

TIJUANA, Baja California – A couple accused of causing the death of Jonathan Carlos, 1-1/2 years old, were jailed. His stepfather savagely beat him because he accidentally knocked over a pan with food.

The State Attorney General, confirmed that those arrested are Óscar Morales Castañeda, 27 years old, the stepfather, and Alejandra Guadalupe Puerto Jiménez, 19 years old, the mother of Jonathan Carlos.

It was reported that the woman had been living with Morales Castañeda for a year, and because she worked at a bar in the Zona Norte, it was the man who cared for the child.

Morales Castañeda constantly attacked the boy for crying and annoying him, but last June 15 the attack was more savage because Jonathan Carlos accidentally knocked over a pan which had the day’s food.

The man grabbed the boy by the waist, and threw him approximately 6 feet, where he fell on a sofa, bounced and ended up hitting his head on the floor.

After the beating, he was put in bed to sleep and in the morning of June 16, it was noticed that the boy started to vomit and had difficulty breathing, it was then that the couple took him to Seguro Social Clinic 20.

Some municipal police saw they were carrying a boy, and they followed them. The doctor on duty said that the child had died, and he showed signs of domestic violence.

According to the Attorney General, the mother admitted she knew what was going on with her son, and never did anything to prevent the maltreatment he received from his stepfather, as she said he also physically mistreated her.

CANCÚN, June 18 – An American tourist who was golfing in the hotel zone suffered a crocodile attack, presumably for ignoring the hotel signage which indicated the presence of those reptiles in the area where he was.

The event occurred around 4PM this Wednesday when the golfer, who was presumed to be drunk, had crossed an area marked by a cyclone fence, and he was attacked by a crocodile.

Hotel personnel immediately helped him and paramedics from a private ambulance took him to a downtown hospital, where he had injuries to his right hand and left leg. According to the first reports he is in stable condition.

Tourist police officers came to the hotel to collect data on the 27 year old tourist, who was identified as Matthew Elsberry.

Gangsters killed a foreigner by beating him on the libramiento Manuel Zavala, after a fight broke out inside the La Lomita Bar, located on calle Vasco de Quiroga.

According to what was said, the victim, whose name in Oliver Daniel Caraco, 53 years old, and originally from Florida, was drinking inside the Bar La Lomita, as he was a frequent customer. At that moment some 15 youths, called the “Draco” attacked Oliver. When they left the bar, the youths started to kick Oliver’s scooter and when he was told they were stealing his scooter, he went outside, but was beaten once again. He managed to get back up and and get to the road, but he was beaten there again and died.

Another version of the story is that the attackers started the fight, and the bar employees hid Oliver, but a woman who had not been seen before there told him that his scooter was being stolen.

Municipal police found the dead body of Oliver on the libramiento Manuel Zavala, at colonia San Felipe. Paramedics from the Red Cross could do nothing.

Hours later it was reported to the police that three people were drinking and causing a ruckus. Upon arriving they arrested three youths who had blood stains on their clothing.

Tijuana, BC, June 8, 2015 – The president of the National Association of Scavengers, Manuel Rodríguez García, along with his daughter, Sarahy Arroyo Bejar, and seven more people, reported Tijuana municipal police officers for robbery, abuse of authority and torture.

Those affected made their complaint first at the State Attorney General, and then they went to the city attorney, and they will also make a complaint with the state commission on human rights, they reported.

The main person affected, Sarahy Arroyo, said that the events happened last Wednesday in Valle de Las Palmas, where without any motive, she was arrested.

The woman said that, at first, two uniformed police officers brutalized her and a companion, and while beating her they put her in the back of a police patrol pick-up. This caused several injuries. They accused her of possession of a firearm and took her purse where she had 20,000 pesos (US$1,300) and US$1,080 dollars, that were to be used for the expenses for a quinceañera party for her daughter.

She explained that she was held for several hours at the Command and Control Center, where she was insulted, psychologically tortured and never given medical attention, in spite of her claiming to have pain in several parts of her body from beatings.

From there she was turned over, along with her father and other people, to the Federal Attorney General for the supposed possession of a firearm.

For his part, Manuel Rodríguez, the leader of the scavengers, said he was held together with two retired Mexican soldiers, only because he asked why they took his daughter.

The police pointed a weapon at the leader and his companions and arrested them for possession of firearms, which the retired soldiers had with them and for which they had legal permits.

Rodríguez García said that he and six people who were with him were held handcuffed for more than four hours in a cell.

Without saying the reason for his arrest, he was then turned over to the the federal Attorney General, where they were set free for lack of evidence of any crime, as the weapons of the retired soldiers were legal and permitted.

The OCDE indicates that individual security is a determining factor for human well being. In Mexico the rate of assaults and murders is way above the average for the block of nations.

Even though in the last decade Mexico has shown an increase in the quality of life of its citizens, in almost all measures of well being it is below the average of most of the countries in the Organization for Cooperation and Economic Development (OCDE).

According to the Index for a Better Life, which measures 34 member states of OCDE, Mexico is below average in the areas of employment and salaries, health, environmental quality, housing, income and wealth, sense of community, balance between work and life, personal safety, as well as education and skills.

The index, prepared since 2011 and which compares the well being of different countries based upon 11 themes which the OCDE has identified as essential for material living conditions and quality of life, shows that the adjusted net disposable income per capita is $13,085 dollars per year, a figure less than the OCDE average of $25,908 per year.

At the same time, the gap between the most rich and the most poor is large. The population earning the top 20% of income earns more than 30 times that of the population in the bottom 20%.

The OCDE says that security is a determining factor for the well being of persons. However, in Mexico, 12.8% of the people report having been the victim of an assault during the last 12 months. This figure is far above the average for OCDE which is 3.9%.

JUCHITÁN, Oaxaca – “They forced me to sleep in a bathtub with water because they said I was crazy,” said Edith, a young Mixteco woman who worked from 5AM in a luxury apartment in Interlomas, and whose employers were arrested by the Attorney General for Mexico State in a operation in Juchitán, Oaxaca.

The arrest of Margarita and her daughter, Tatiana, who forced the girl to work without salary, with grueling days, where she was forced to have sexual relations with her employer’s son, named Jorge, who is a fugitive, represents the first case of arrest for human trafficking with exploitation for slavery, said Rosy Orozco, president of the United Commission Against Trafficking.

Edith is one of the more than two million young women who work as domestics in residential areas or as sharecroppers, in conditions almost of slavery, with no social security, Christmas bonus, low salaries and without established work hours, she said.

The young Mixteca came to the Polanco area when she was 12 years old, and lived in colinia Pensil. Later she was taken to Hacienda del Ciervo, in the Hacienda de Las Palmas subdivision, in the nearby residential area of Interlomas, with the illusion it would improve her living conditions.

However, “I could not leave the apartment, and started working at five in the morning, I only ate beans and rice, and when they were unhappy with my work, Señora Margarita and her daughter, Tatiana, hit me with their fists and kicked me. For eight months I slept in a bathtub with water, because they said I was crazy,” said Edith, who when she had a chance to talk to her parents begged them to come get her younger sister so she did not have to live in such humiliation.

In addition, Margarita’s son, Jorge, sexually abused her and even forced her to have sex with other men who came to one of the apartments at Hacienda del Ciervo 23, Tower B, in Villas de Las Palmas, said Julio, Edith’s boyfriend, who was the watchman of that residential complex and who helped the young woman who lived in captivity for almost one year. Margarita is a director for the Institutional Revolutionary Party, and “distributed beans and food, which you call household items,” he said.

Because of this, politicians and people of power in Oaxaca are threatening Edith’s parents, said Rosy Orozco, who asked for protection for Edith’s family, in Juchitán as well as in Mexico Valley.

In addition, Jorge, who is a fugitive, is believed to be a close collaborator with PRI party legislator Adolfo Toledo Infasón, who Rosy Orozco called upon to not protect nor hide those who attack minors.